


Adventures in Babysitting

by humorless_hexagon



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Flirting, M/M, babysitter!Cisco, dear god so much flirting, skeptical parenting, uncle!Barry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-10 22:11:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7863076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/humorless_hexagon/pseuds/humorless_hexagon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry may not be the best uncle, but at least he has good choice in babysitters. (written for flashvibe week day 1)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adventures in Babysitting

**Author's Note:**

> this is so late but?? better late than never!

“Barr, I know you’re taking a few days off, but we could really use you in the office tomorrow.” Joe’s voice came in crackling from the speakerphone as Barry attempted to push his way through rush hour traffic. 

 

“I already told you, Joe,” Barry said, smiling gratefully at the mini-van to his left that finally let him merge. “I’m watching over Olivia for the weekend while Iris and Eddie are on vacation.”

 

Joe sighed and Barry felt something in his chest clench; he didn’t want to let Joe down, especially considering the police department would already be one officer short with Eddie out of town.

 

“You know what,” Barry grimaced, knowing he’d regret making a promise he couldn’t keep, “I’ll see what I can do to get her a babysitter for an afternoon.”

 

“That’s great! I’ll see you in the office then,” Joe practically cheered before hanging up.

 

Barry groaned as he rested his head against the steering wheel. Now he had to find a babysitter for Olivia and, to make matters worse, traffic had come to a complete stop.

 

By the time he finally got to his apartment, he was tense and frustrated from a commute that had doubled in time and the fact that he still had a job to do.

 

Barry would be lying if he said he had spent more that fifteen minutes looking for someone to look after Olivia- it was only going to be for an afternoon, so he wasn’t very concerned. He quickly pulled up a certified babysitter website and scrolled through the popular local choices, wrinkling his nose at the retired math teacher and furrowing his eyebrows at one woman’s whose bio was entirely in Finnish and was charging forty bucks an hour. Barry had to scroll through several pages until he came across the first male sitter he had seen on the entire site. Curious, he clicked the guy’s bio. “Cisco” as Barry learned from some quick skimming of the page, was a paid intern at the local Mercury Labs who was free to work weekends for as little as ten dollars an hour. Seeing that he was CPR certified and the same age as Iris, Barry made no hesitation in finding Cisco’s number at the top of the page and plugging it into his cell.

 

While the phone was dialing, Barry began to have some second thoughts. He was about to entrust the safety of his niece to a complete stranger who he would have only known through a brief phone interview. His finger hovered over the hang up button when the other end picked up with a curious, “Hello?”

 

“Uh, hey!” Barry said over-enthusiastically, slapping himself in the face for being so awkward.

 

“Who is this?”

 

“Oh! It’s Barry- Barry Allen. I was wondering if you were free Saturday afternoon?” Barry cringed again at the failed introduction.

 

A muffled laugh came through line, “Are you asking me out? I think you might have the wrong number.”

 

“No! No- oh my god, I meant- I’m-”

 

“Hey I’m not judging you man,” Cisco chuckled. He sounded a lot more relaxed than Barry, which was doing nothing to ease his nerves. “I’m a pretty hot guy, I get it. Everyone wants a piece of this.”

 

This caused Barry to giggle. He had opened up his computer again and was looking at Cisco’s profile picture. It was who Barry assumed was Cisco grinning with a girl who appeared to be a little older than Olivia. He was wearing sunglasses in the picture, so it was hard to recognize any discernable features besides an admittedly adorable smile.

 

“Don’t mock me, dude. I got you to laugh that should win me at least ten points.” Barry could imagine Cisco beaming on the other line. “Seriously though, Barry, was it? Why are you calling me?”

 

“I found your number on this babysitting website and I need to go into work this weekend-”

 

Cisco interrupted with a jubilant, “Say no more!” and the telltale clicks of a keyboard. “When would you need me? What would the job entail?”

 

“This Saturday from noon to about six-ish. You just need to watch and play with my four year-old niece, Olivia, until I can get back from work,” Barry said, unconsciously fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

 

“Niece?”

 

“I’m watching over my foster sister’s daughter for the weekend while she and her husband are out of town but my work just called me in and said they’re gonna need me for a few hours.”

 

There was a short silence where Cisco seemed to process the information before asking, “What do you do?”

 

“CSI for CCPD.” Now it was Barry’s turn to pause. He felt like he was being interviewed instead of him interviewing Cisco. “Hey- shouldn’t I be the one asking you all the questions? You’re not the one entrusting the safety of your niece to a complete stranger.”

 

“I guess you’re right, I just like to get to know a client’s background before I blindly walk into their house. You could be a murderer and setting me up for a trap,” Cisco said matter-of-factly.

 

“Well,” Barry was covering his mouth to hide his smile, despite being in a room alone. “Well I can assure you that’s definitely not the case.”

 

Cisco scoffed. “If you work for the CSI then you’d know how to expertly take care of the body, so I’ve gotta be certain!”

 

“What about you, what do you do besides hassle concerned uncles via cellular device?” Barry asked, genuinely curious. 

 

“I do not hassle!” Cisco laughed. “I’m a technical engineer at Mercury Labs.”

 

“I thought your profile said you were an intern?”

 

“It’s been awhile since I’ve updated that. I’ve advanced a lot since then,” he said proudly.

 

“And you’re sure you’re up for this job? My niece can be quite the handful sometimes.” Grim flashbacks from when Olivia had decided to color Barry’s entire arm pink while he took a nap popped into his head. Luckily, the marker was washable.

 

“If she’s anything like her uncle, I can image,” Cisco teased, putting on an obnoxious voice for effect. “I’m rolling my eyes, by the way.”

 

“My wounded pride!” Barry feigned shock through a giggle. Cisco laughed hard and Barry felt something in his stomach pull. It was nice to joke around with someone so easily.

 

“You’ll live. Yeah, I’m more than happy to look after her for a few hours. You can text me the address on this number and I’ll see you Saturday at noon?”

 

“Sounds good! Thank you so much for this,” Barry said, a little out of breath, though he wasn’t quite sure why.

 

“No problem, Barry, I’ll talk to you later.”

 

Barry hesitated before reluctantly wishing Cisco a good night. He decided he might as well make a contact in his phone for Cisco before sending him Iris and Eddie’s address. Cisco’s response was almost instant.

 

**Cisco:** awesome! I’ll see you Saturday ;)

**Cisco:** :)*

  
  


Barry welcomed Saturday morning with an alarm blaring Backstreet Boys about an hour earlier than he was used to. Iris and Eddie would be heading out soon, so he had to get ready to see them off and take Olivia off their hands. He had gone over the schedule with them beforehand, and they were fine with Olivia having another sitter for the afternoon, though Barry may have forgotten to include that the guy watching her was a stranger besides the one conversation they had had. 

 

After a slightly rushed breakfast and a shower that felt much too short, Barry drove to Iris and Eddie’s house, occasionally taking sips from his tumbler of already lukewarm coffee. By the time he got there, Iris had sent him ten increasingly vulgar and threatening texts, and Eddie was loading the last of their bags into their car. 

 

“Honestly, how do you manage to be late to almost everything?” Iris joked, elbowing Barry in the ribs. Olivia, who was thoughtfully watching Eddie pack, ran over to join them.

 

“It’s a talent,” Barry told Iris as he picked up Olivia from her waist. “How is the princess doing today?”

 

Iris smiled fondly. “She’s been a bit fussy this morning, but I think it’s because she was looking forward to seeing her uncle.”

 

Barry looked to Olivia for confirmation; she responded with a tell-all smirk, and he felt his heart melt.

 

“Well, I hope you’re okay if I go into work this afternoon,” Barry said to the girl in his arms, bouncing her up a bit to get a better grip.

 

Olivia’s face turned contemplative. “Am I going to work with you?”

 

Both Barry and Iris laughed knowingly at this.

 

“Oh no,” Iris said quickly. “You’re too young for that. Besides, your grandpa would get mad at us for letting you see his work without him knowing.” She gave Barry a side-eye glance as she took her daughter from his arms.

 

“One of my friends is going to be looking after you this afternoon,” Barry explained. “He’s really cool, I promise!”

 

“Is he just a friend? Or like… a  _ friend _ friend?” Olivia asked curiously. A muted squawk came from Iris, who was making a poor attempt at hiding her amusement. Barry didn’t have to look in a mirror to know that his cheeks were pinker than they had been this morning. Ever since he and Iris had described a child-friendly version of bisexuality to Olivia, she had accused every other one of Barry’s friends of being his significant other.

 

“Just a friend!” Barry tried hard to pretend that his voice didn’t crack, but Iris caught his eye and gave him a grin that her daughter definitely got from her.

 

Eddie walked up the group, ruffling Olivia’s curls. “Iris, are you ready to go?”

 

She nodded and placed her daughter back on the ground. “You be gentle with your Uncle Barry- he can use a little help sometimes,” Iris advised her daughter.

 

“I’ll try,” Olivia smiled back giving her mom a big hug. “I’ll miss you.”

 

“I’ll miss you too, baby.”

 

As Eddie and Olivia said their goodbyes, Iris confirmed the plans for the weekend.

 

“We’re just going to be in Keystone, so if there’s an emergency you can call us back in a flash-”

 

“Iris,” Barry interrupted her. “We’re going to be fine; don’t worry.”

 

“Okay… just, be careful. Make sure to call.”

 

Barry gave her a brief hug. “We’ll be alright. Go have a good time- you deserve a break.”

 

Iris smiled and wished him goodbye. He and Olivia watched from the driveway as Iris and Eddie got in the car and pulled out onto the road.

 

“Have fun!” Olivia called out, waving her small hand frantically in the air. Barry couldn’t help but beam: it was going to be a good weekend. 

 

The duo went back inside the house, Olivia leading Barry by the hand. They sat on the couch and Barry let Olivia watch some cartoons for awhile. Her favorite show recently was a children’s version of a superhero comic series that Barry remembered following when he was teen. It was embarrassing for him to admit he still found the corny jokes and ridiculous puns funny.

 

During a commercial, Olivia turned to Barry and frowned. “Uncle Barry, how come you don’t have any kids?”

 

“Well…” Barry paused for a moment, caught off guard, “you usually have to be married first to have kids.”

 

“Then why aren’t you married?”

 

“I just haven’t found the right person yet, I guess,” he answered casually, purposely forgetting to mention that his last few relationships had ended rather poorly and he wasn’t exactly trying to find a potential partner.

 

“Huh.” Olivia seemed satisfied and returned her attention back to the screen. At the next commercial she turned back to Barry. “What about your friends? Why don’t you marry them?” she paused to make sure she had Barry’s attention before continuing, “Mommy says that Daddy’s her best friend. Why don’t you marry one of your friends?”

 

A breathy laugh escaped his mouth. “It’s a lot harder than just picking a friend to marry. You have to, or should at least, want to spend your entire life with this person.”

 

“I guess,” she mumbled, discontent with Barry’s answer. 

 

The rest of the morning went by easily. They abandoned the TV in favor of Olivia’s collection of stuffed animals and played pretend “heroes and robbers” until lunch. By the time Barry had fixed up a sandwich for Olivia, it was a few minutes past twelve.

 

“My friend should be here any second to-”

 

The doorbell interrupted him with a loud chime. Mere seconds later, Barry was opening the door to greet Cisco a forced nervous grin. Anticipation made his hands clammy as the door swung slowly open.

 

Barry froze in the doorway and felt his stomach do a backflip. Cisco stood at the entryway smiling shyly, without the sunglasses in his profile picture, which, Barry thought, was a definite improvement.

 

Cisco held out his hand a little awkwardly, “Uh, hey! I’m-”

 

“Cisco!” Barry blurted out, grabbing his hand forcefully. “Thanks so much for coming.” Internally, he cringed at his awkwardness and the fact that his hand was probably uncomfortably sweaty.

 

A force pushed against Barry’s leg and he turned to see Olivia hiding behind him. Cisco broke the handshake to crouch down and extend a hand to Olivia.

 

“You’re Olivia, I assume?”

 

She nodded, hiding her face in Barry’s thigh, however she still managed to meet Cisco’s hand with a flimsy squeeze.

 

“I’m Cisco. I’m gonna be hanging out with you this afternoon, if that’s alright with you.”

 

Olivia looked at him with half of her face still hidden, but nodded nonetheless. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

 

Barry grinned as he led Cisco inside the house. So far he seemed like an awesome guy; he was sweet with Olivia and hadn’t made fun of Barry for his lacking social skills, so he was definitely winning big points.

 

“There’s food in the fridge or the pantry if you guys get hungry and Olivia knows how to work the TV,” Barry said, as he walked briskly through the house. “Bathroom is down the hall,” he pointed. “So is Olivia’s room; she has tons of toys in there so if you guys get bored, you know where to go.”

 

He turned around the make sure Cisco was paying attention, and was pleasantly surprised to see Cisco seeming to hang on to every word.

 

“Y-you have my number if you ever need to reach me,” Barry stammered, flustered by the intensity of the shorter man’s gaze. 

 

“Got it. Any allergies or anything I should be aware of?”

 

Both of them glanced at Olivia, who had returned to the kitchen table to finish her sandwich.

 

“No allergies, but she’s,” Barry paused to try to find the right words. “She’s really curious and might ask some personal questions.”

 

Cisco scoffed, “I’m sure it’s not anything I can’t handle.”

 

Barry shook his head. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

 

A sudden vibration of Barry’s thigh caused him to jump and bump into Cisco. “Sorry, phone call,” he explained, taking out his phone. Joe’s caller ID came up.

 

“Barr, you better be on your way; there’s a lot of papers here for you” Joe patronized. Barry ran a hand through his hair and caught Cisco looking at him with an odd expression.

 

“Yeah, yeah I am just getting things set up with Olivia.”

 

“Alright. Tell the princess I said hi.”

 

“Will do, Joe. See you soon.”

 

By now, Cisco had moved to sit at the table next to Olivia and was trying to talk to her, but she didn’t seem to be answering. A knot of dread tightened in Barry’s gut; maybe everything wasn’t going to go as smoothly as he had hoped.

 

“You better go,” Cisco said, nodding his head to the door. He wasn’t quite smiling, but it was obvious he was trying to make an effort to. “We’ll be fine here.”

 

“Ah, okay. I’ll see you two later… Have a fun afternoon!” 

 

Olivia perked up and waved. “Bye Uncle Barry!”

 

He returned the wave with a comical salute before grabbing his work briefcase and leaving the house with a blanket of anxiety weighing him down. As he started the car, images of him returning to Iris and Eddie’s house burnt down and Cisco and Olivia playing in the ashes flashed through his mind. Barry sent a quick text before heading off the the police department.

 

**Barry:** Feel free to message me or check in whenever!

**Cisco:** stop worrying and go to work. If there’s a fire or whatever you’ll be the first to know

 

Cisco’s humor was reassuring, and Barry decided to follow his directions and stop worrying so much. He got to the department easily, where, sure enough, a huge stack of files of evidence from a suspected murder needed to be analyzed and documented. Surely, it would take at least the entire afternoon he had given himself to work, so Barry set to work.

 

About an hour had passed when he had begun to think about Olivia and Cisco and tried to resist checking in on them, but he quickly succumbed to the need to know how they were doing. He thumbed a text to Cisco and tried to return to his work, checking the phone every few seconds until he received a reply.

 

**Cisco:** Doing good! Olivia is starting to warm up to me :)

 

A relieved sigh escaped Barry’s mouth and he continued to slowly shrink the pile of files.

 

When almost half of the evidence had been documented, the clock was sitting around three thirty. Barry had told Cisco he would be done around five, but it was looking like that wasn’t going to be the case.

 

As if he knew Barry was thinking about him, Cisco texted Barry.

 

**Cisco:** you were right, oliva does have some interesting questions.

**Cisco:** how much does she know about bisexuality??

 

Barry laughed against his wrist. Finally someone other than him was feeling the wrath of Olivia’s curiosity.

 

**Barry:** From her understanding, bisexuals have the ability to like boys and girls, but that’s about as we could explain.

**Cisco:** she is convinced we’re dating. I just want to say I had nothing to do with this

**Cisco:** although I can’t say I tried very hard to prove her wrong ;P wouldn’t want to crush her hopes

 

A familiar pull returned to Barry’s stomach and he tried to force his heart out of his throat. Was he imagining it, or was Cisco flirting with him? The traitorous part of his brain hoped that it was the latter.

 

**Barry:** Lol let her believe what she wants.

 

That seemed to end the conversation, as Cisco never responded. The late afternoon waned on and Barry had only a few more papers left when an alarm telling him that he was supposed to be finished went off. He bit his lip, not wanting to keep Cisco, but also not wanting to leave his job unfinished, especially when he was so close.

 

**Barry:** Can you stay a little while so I can finish up here? I’ll pay you overtime.

**Cisco:** no problem. I’m free all night so I can stay as late as you need me

 

That evil part of his brain provided a few images of some ways Barry would need Cisco to stay all night. He brushed them away with a shake of his head and sent a thank you to Cisco.

 

It was approaching half-past six when Barry finally completed organizing the evidence. He decided he would get pizza for dinner as a treat for a job well done and to thank Cisco for staying later than he was told he would need to. Rather than texting, he called Cisco’s number to tell him the good news.

 

“Barry! Everything all finished up?” Cisco answered cheerfully.

 

“Yeah, I was planning on getting pizza on my way home. Do you want to stay for dinner?” Barry suggested, trying not to sound too desperate.

 

“Will there be pepperoni?”

 

“Extra large.”

 

Cisco groaned, “You know all the ways to a man’s heart.”

 

Barry nearly dropped his phone and chuckled a bit forcefully, “You’ll stay then?”

 

“I wouldn’t dream of leaving,” Cisco teased, his voice crackling slightly through the phone.

 

Barry grinned as he got into his car. “Awesome, I’ll see you soon then.”

 

“We’ll see you!” Cisco said, accompanied by Olivia.

 

Barry’s fingertips drummed against the steering wheel to the beat of the upbeat pop song that played as he drove to the local pizza place. He was filled with an uncontrollable energy that made him want to jump out of his car and run through the street. That was ridiculous, he thought, and there no reason for him to be so energetic, anyways. Barry thought about having Cisco over for dinner and the feeling seemed to multiply. It had been a long time since he had been so giddy about seeing someone. He dismissed it as a reaction to Cisco being so nice to him. 

 

“Hey, man, are you gonna order or what?” the girl behind the counter of the pizza place demanded, snapping him back to reality.

 

“Uh, yeah! One extra-large pepperoni and an order of cinnamon sticks, please,” Barry ordered sheepishly. Once he had paid, he was told he only had to wait fifteen minutes, Barry forced himself to sit down and try to focus on something on something other than Cisco and his charming smile or his eyes or lips or-

 

Barry groaned and pushed his palms against his eyes. He hardly knew this guy for twenty minutes and he already had a childish crush because of a few  _ possibly _ flirtatious conversations and a positive first impression. To busy himself, Barry ended up playing a few frustrating rounds of solitaire on his phone until his pizza was done. By then, he was getting dirty looks from the middle-aged mother and her daughter for bouncing his leg so much.

 

Driving back to the house, Barry might have ignored a few speed limits, but his antsiness made him careless. He had trouble opening the door while balancing the pizza box, a bag full of cinnamon sticks, and his briefcase, but he was somehow able to make it work.

 

“Ah, Barry you’re back!” Cisco’s cheery voice came from the living room. He appeared in the doorway and rushed over to take the food off of Barry’s hands.

 

“Hey, how’s everything doing?” Barry asked.

 

“Pretty good! Olivia and I were just drawing in the living room,” Cisco explained as Barry took off his shoes. The domesticity of it winded him. Cisco seemingly unaffected, led the way to kitchen where the table had already been set.

 

“Cisco helped me set the table!” Olivia exclaimed, rushing in through Barry’s legs to her usual seat. “I showed him where the napkins and the paper plates were!”

 

Barry laughed breathily, “Wow, sounds like you’ve been having a fun time. Did you have a good day?”

 

Olivia’s eyes widened and she beamed. “Duh! Cisco’s super cool- he knows everything about everything!”

 

“Does he now?” Barry directed his question more towards Cisco than Olivia.

 

“She was impressed by my knowledge of a superhero show she watches. I’m a pretty big fan of the comics,” Cisco smiled proudly before sitting in the seat across from Olivia.

 

“You guys can dig in; I’m gonna get a beer. Cisco, you want one?”

 

He nodded slowly, “Yeah, actually, if that’s not too much of a hassle.”

 

“Not at all!” Barry said as he grabbed two beers from the fridge. When he reentered the dining room, Cisco was helping put a slice of pizza on Olivia’s plate. There was already a slice on Barry’s. Barry handed the second beer to Cisco and put his own in the air as a toast.

 

“To a good day and new friendships,” Barry announced.

 

“Well said,” Cisco grinned and tapped the neck of his bottle to Barry’s.

 

Dinner went well despite Barry spending a lot of time focusing more on Cisco’s mouth than his and Olivia’s recollections of their day. The evening seemed to pass by in seconds full of boisterous laughter and comfortable conversation. The sun had already set when Cisco checked his watch and said he should head home. By then the conversation was drawing to a lull and Olivia was starting to fall asleep, so it was reasonable for Cisco to take off.

 

Olivia gave Cisco a hug and told him, “You better come back soon,” before sleepily trudging to her room

 

While Olivia was getting ready for bed, Barry led Cisco to the front door and stood in the doorway as Cisco stepped outside. There was a cold breeze in the air that made them both pull their clothes closer to themselves.

 

“Uh, how much should I pay you?” Barry asked, taking out his wallet. “You stayed longer than I initially said you needed to... so you should charge me more for that, right?”

 

Cisco laughed and lightly pushed Barry’s wallet down. “I have a better idea. How about you repay my excellent babysitting service by treating me to a nice dinner.”

 

Time seemed to slow down. Barry internally hoped that Cisco had actually winked at him and that wasn’t just him having a creepy imagination.

 

“What?” was all Barry could choke out.

 

“You? Me? A nice dinner? It doesn’t have to be too fancy-”

 

“Like a date?” his voice rose in pitch from the shock.

 

Cisco seemed to deflate and become embarrassed. “Yeah, that’s what I had in mind. Unless-” his eyes widened “-unless you’re not that into guys and I had been reading the signs wrong! Oh my god I’ve been hitting on you and you’re obviously not interested. I’m sorry I should have-”

 

Now Barry’s eyes widened. “Hitting on me?”

 

Cisco froze. “Uh, yeah. I kinda have been. Like, all day.”

 

There was a brief pause in which they both found the ground really interesting and neither of them tried to make eye contact with each other.

 

Barry broke it by mumbling softly to the concrete of the entryway, “So.. dinner?” 

 

“What?” Cisco’s head tilted upwards and his eyebrows furrowed as if he didn’t understand.

 

“Dinner. Dinner date,” Barry tried to explain, mind blanking on any intellectual things to say.

 

“It’s okay if you’re not into that! You can just pay me,” Cisco apologized, putting his palms towards Barry in surrender.

 

“No! I-I’m… I’d love to! I’d really like to take you to dinner!” Barry said loudly as he took a step closer to Cisco. His back left the warmth of the house and the chilly air was now fully surrounding him.

 

“Dinner date,” Cisco restated seriously.

 

“If the offer still stands.”

 

Cisco nodded fervently, expression resembling that of a goldfish. “Yeah, yeah! Of course it does!”

 

Something unspoken was communicated between them and the pair burst into laughter. Their fingers brushed, and Barry realized how close they were standing. The air seemed to get harder to breathe.

 

“So… I’ll text you?” Barry asked when their laughing had broke down into mere giggles.

 

“You better,” Cisco smiled, making Barry’s heart do acrobatics he was not aware it could do. Their pinkies got caught on each other as Cisco pulled away, and Barry felt in that moment that he wanted to know everything about the man standing in front of him. When their pinkies broke apart, they were both grinning like kids. 

 

Cisco walked backwards to his car so he could maintain eye contact, but turned when he almost tripped on the sidewalk. With a hesitant wave, he got in his car and slowly drove away.

  
Barry leaned against the doorway and let out a breathy sigh that was warm against the cold night. He was right: it  _ was _ going to be a good weekend. 


End file.
